If your point was that he wasn't perfect, I'm pretty sure he didn't say he was, but he was a legend and his private life does not detract from the great influence he had on so many musicians, in ways that are impossible to calculate. If Mick Jagger took bits from James Brown, just to name one, how many people took those from Mick Jagger, and so on and so on.
Besides, we don't know the whole story and drugs had a large part to play in his less reputable moments. He probably didn't sit down and put "hit my wife" and "run from the police" on his to-do list. It probably just sort of happened as I think things do when you're out of your brain on the drugs he was on at the time.
However, he did go to jail, he did serve his time, and we call that "paying your debt to society".
It is certainly not his proudest moment, but it isn't what he should be remembered for either.